The Senate reconvened at 10:00 A.M. and is expected to vote to confirm the nominations of Scott A. Nathan to be Chief Executive Officer of the United States International Development Finance Corporation and Douglas R. Bush to be an Assistant Secretary of the Army. The Senate may also work on as many as seven other Biden nominations.
The House reconvened at 9:00 A.M. and is working on H.R. 3485 – Global Respect Act which imposes visa-blocking sanctions on foreign persons responsible for or complicit in violating the human rights of individuals due to actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics.
As discussions continue on an omnibus, yesterday the House voted 272-162 to approve a continuing resolution that will expire on March 11th. House members are scheduled to be out of Washington until February 28th starting at the end of this week. Fifty-one House Republicans joined with the majority Tuesday to approve the short-term measure. Only one Democrat voted no, Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey. The temporary funding bill now moves to the Senate where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said the chamber will “take it up quickly and in time” before a February 18th deadline that lawmakers vow will not result in a government shutdown. The Senate is in session next week and is expected to recess next Friday for the President’s Day recess the following week. Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy, (D-Vermont), said in a statement that he expects the top appropriators to complete their work in the next four weeks because the alternative, a continuing resolution for the remainder of the fiscal year, “is unacceptable.” The situation remains fluid as Republicans sent Democrats another counteroffer Monday night, a response to a Democratic counter to a GOP offer from earlier that day and were waiting on a response. A major sticking point keeping both sides from agreeing on a topline figure is parity between defense and nondefense spending, the months-long stalemate has come as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has pressed for equal levels of growth on defense and nondefense spending in fiscal 2022 talks.
